Froch and Chavez Jr. in talks for January bout

A fight between Carl Froch and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is back in discussions, but rather than happening this year, as originally intended, the target date is January 24 in Las Vegas.

Froch made it clear after his big eighth-round knockout of George Groves in their May 31 rematch, in front of some 80,000 at Wembley Stadium, that he wanted a big fight in Las Vegas, and Chavez fits that bill.

Although the sides couldn't work things out for the autumn, early 2015 is looking good.

"Talks have re-opened with Top Rank regarding a proposed Froch versus Chavez fight with a date of January 24th pencilled," Matchroom's Eddie Hearn, Froch's promoter, told ESPN on Tuesday. "Obviously, we have the potential to make another big domestic fight against [mandatory challenger] James DeGale and even a third fight with Mikkel Kessler, but either way we have given ourselves a deadline of 10 days to two weeks to map out Carl's future."

Top Rank's Bob Arum said he has been talking to his old friend Barry Hearn, Eddie's father and company founder, about making the fight.

"We're well on our way to making that fight for January 24," Arum said.

The question, however, is will Arum be able to close a deal with Chavez?

Chavez, a former middleweight titleholder and one of boxing's biggest attractions, was supposed to fight Gennady Golovkin on July 19, but Chavez and Arum could not come to terms, even though Golovkin's side was done.

The issue was over Top Rank's desire for Chavez to sign a contraction extension. Chavez didn't want to do one. He could have had the Golovkin fight for one purse without an extension or signed the extension and received a much larger purse.

So how will things be different as they try to make a fight with Froch?

Arum said he met with Chavez's father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., manager Billy Keane and Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran, who has been involved in Chavez's career since the beginning, on Sunday at his home in Los Angeles and that things went well.

"I'm convinced we can get it done," Arum said. "I made a proposal that I don't want to get into but I think it would be acceptable."

Keane could not be reached for comment.

If the fight is indeed finalised, Arum said it would take place at the MGM Grand, perhaps a surprise to some because of what happened in April, when Arum eviscerated MGM executives for promoting the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Marcos Maidana fight heavily during the week of his Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley II event.

"Business is business. They know this would be a big event there and what happened with Pacquiao is not an issue that would affect Chavez and Froch," Arum said, adding that his stepson, Todd duBoef, Top Rank's president, had smoothed things over with Bill Hornbuckle, the president and chief marketing officer of MGM Resorts.